Pumpkin Claus

I originally wrote this for a Halloween contest on AllPoetry

The time of pumpkins
To be simple decorations
Had come to end
One Halloween night,
When a man with pumpkin head
Named Pumpkin Clause
Went about to spread fear
In the hearts of many children.

On Halloween night
Children do not run about
With fear in their hearts,
Nor in their souls,
Nor in their eyes.
Instead they run about
from door to door
Collecting all the candy
The bags they carry
Can hold.
But on a night much like tonight,
A Halloween night,
So very dark and cold,
The joy caused
By countless candy bars
Would be turned into fear
By a man who roamed the streets
With a pumpkin for a head.

The children in their large groups
And the chaperoning adults,
They did not notice
This bizarre man,
For on a Halloween night
He blended in just fine.
His name was Pumpkin Claus
And he had set out not for treats
Nor for tricks,
But rather to feast,
On the fear he could cause
In the hearts of young and old.

Pumpkin Claus took to the streets,
Lurking in the shadows
Where he could not be seen
Stalking his prey.
His plan so to say
Was really quiet simple,
Find a small child,
Alone with a parent
Or perhaps older sibling
And follow them home
Where he could make his move,
And satisfy his hunger.
This he would do
Many times that night,
But there was one pair
That truly stood out.

There was a young boy
Dressed up all in orange
From his little head to his little toes,
And on his little head
Was a little orange hat
With a little brown stem,
And around his little body
Was a large round pumpkin suit.
In one hand
He held a heavy bag
Full little pieces of candy
That he would soon use
To cause a self induced stomachache,
And in his other hand
Was the hand of his older sister,
Who walked with a slight swing of the hips,
And popped her pink bubble gum
An obnoxious number of times.

Pumpkin Claus followed his prey
Keeping a short distance back
Until the boy and his sister
Turned toward a house
Presumed to be their own.
He slipped behind a tree
That stood alone
In the empty front yard.
He watched them slip inside
Before approaching the door
And tapping three times
With his long clawed fingers.
He waited patiently
For someone to open the door,
Checking only once
Over his shoulder
To be sure he would not be seen.
And finally the door opened
By the hand of the girl,
A bowl full of candy
Held in her hands.
“Great costume,” She said
Rather apathetically.
“Take what you want.”
She held the bowl out,
Growing impatient in only few second,
She’d been standing at the door.

Pumpkin Claus took no candy,
Instead he pushed his way
Inside the house
And gently closed the door behind him.
“What are you doing?”
The girl plead desperately,
A slight hint of fear
Filling her eyes.
“Please leave,”
She said a little more desperately,
But Pumpkin Claus only shook
His pumpkin head.
“I’ll call the police,”
She said threateningly
With great fear in her voice,
And once again
Pumpkin Claus shook his pumpkin head
His eyes lighting up
Like a candle’s flame.
And from behind his back
He let his hand fall,
An already bloodied knife
Prepared to perform it’s task,
And the last thing ever heard
From the little boy’s older sister,
Was a blood curdling scream
That satisfied much
Of Pumpkin Claus’s hunger.

Then up the stairs
Did Pumpkin Claus’s attention turn
Where the silence of a frightened child
Shattered the copper smelling air.
A the man with the pumpkin head
Climbed up each step slowly
So as to not make a sound.
Once at the top he did search
Until he found
A dark and seemingly empty
Little room
That was filled with the possessions
Of a young boy,
And that room he did enter
Able to smell
The scent of young blood.
For the small closet
Where the young boy had taken refuge
Was not the best choice
In hiding spots,
And Pumpkin Claus did find him,
And finally did settle his hunger,
But only for a while
Until Halloween the next year.

And on Halloween each year
Pumpkin Claus did the same,
Searching for his victims,
Spreading fear,
And satisfying
His undying hunger.